bicen

I've used a Shattered Pillar/ Soul Blade and a few other Shattered Pillars like pure class, mixed with Devoted, mixed with Paladin (both Gold Pact and Bleak Walker) and mixed with Berserker. Now that fist damage is fixed (it used to lose out Transcendent after a save load) Fists are the king of auto attack DPS. They have more base damage than slow one handers like swords and battle axes and the attack speed of fast weapons like rapiers and daggers. Power level also directly increases your penetration, accuracy and damage. Bottom line fists are great and you want as high a power level as you can get. So based on the above you'd want to use a Nature Godlike for the wellspring which gets you +2 power level and can be activated by Swift Strikes and Thunderous Blows so it'll be active pretty much all the time. This gets you +15% damage, +1 penetration and +4 accuracy, all of which is way better than any hat + racial. A pure class will have more abilities, more power levels, access to high level abilities and faster access to abilities. Getting an extra ability pick every time you gain a power level is really really nice. Just due to power levels a pure monk will gain +1 penetration, +4 accuracy and +15% damage for free. I would not make a pure Cipher, especially a Soul Blade, the synergy that they gain from multiclassing with a melee type is just too great. Even blending a wizard for the instant buffs, illusion spells and summoned weapons or a priest with summoned weapons would work really good and be better than a pure Cipher. Your shattered Pillar/Soul Blade gets +40% damage from whip at the cost of one ability, and can get +1 penetration from the Cipher passive for one ability. So two ability picks puts you at +25% damage, equal penetration and -4 accuracy compared to a pure monk who will be two power levels ahead. So auto attacking wise its better for the Soul Blade mix depending on the value of two abilities. If you keep the cipher abilities low, only taking the really good ones and only when the game forces you to pick one (when you gain a power level) you can get some of the monk abilities but you will not have enough to take all that you'd like. Just dumping all your accrued focus into soul annihilation rather than using cipher powers will put out a lot of damage A pure monk will be the better monk by far. If you want to use lots of monk abilities and passives going pure is a good choice. If you want instead a few Cipher abilities to add some unique stuff to a monk a soul blade is a good choice. It comes down to playstyle, from a mechanical standpoint both are good. I much prefer Shattered Pillar to any of the other Monks. Needing to take damage for wounds is not as good as needing to inflict damage for wounds. It's better to give than receive To me a melee Helwalker who gets to taking an extra 50% damage just seems too glassy. Lots of ranged versions that use the Helwalker to fuel a massive spell assault from their other class but that doesn't fit my image of a monk. I don't have experience with druids and shifters, just don't like the playstyle. For races a Nature Godlike adds a lot to a fist user. Other than the gimped island Aumaua (faster movement through surf and mud??? really ???) every race is pretty good so pick what you like. PotD with party companions will be easy enough that you can make any class you like without min maxing and be successful. So make what you find fun and interesting. Triple Crown Solo is a whole different game. What attributes do you recommend for the pure monk build?

If I were to roll this Shattered Pillar monk, how should I place my attributes? Also, do you think that a pure Shattered Pillar is stronger than a pure Helwalker when paired with the Nature Godlike?

Didn't play yet but on paper I think Skald would work wonders with Berserker or Devoted. It would also fit nicely form role-playing perspective if you care about that . It's just difficult to choose a weapon without ever playing the game. What weapon would you choose? 2H? Also, doesn't berserker hurt your team? How do you avoid that? I really appreciate your input! Also, what do you think of Shifter/ Berserker?

What do you guys think about Skald/ Shattered Pillar? What melee class has the best synergy with Skald? Thinking of trying that with the Nature Godlike or Wild Orlan.

What exactly does the Wellspring of Life do? And if the Moon Godlike heals, would that be an ability that could sustain the damage of HelWalker/ Bleak Walker?

I was considering between a few classes for my MC and was hoping for input from some of you who have been playing the beta. Let me know what you think! 1. Nature Godlike - Helwalker/ Bleak Walker Question: Does the might increase from Helwalker trigger Nature Godlike's heal? Shattered Pillar over Helwalker? 2. Wild Orlan - Shifter/ Skald Question: Is there Synergy with this combo? 3. Nature Godlike - Barbarian or Helwalker/ Skald What do you guys think? Am I on the right track? Any input would be greatly appreciated!